Philip H. Diehl (January 29, 1847 – April 7, 1913) was a

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mechanical

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

who held several U.S.

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s, including electric incandescent lamps,

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate f ...

s for

sewing machine A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with Thread (yarn), thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. ...

s and other uses, and

ceiling fan A ceiling fan is a fan mounted on the ceiling of a room or space, usually electrically powered, that uses hub-mounted rotating blades to circulate air. They cool people effectively by increasing air speed. Fans do not reduce air temperature ...

s. Diehl was a contemporary of

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

and his inventions caused Edison to reduce the price of his incandescent bulb. He occasionally spelled his first name 'Phillip'. In July 1868, he immigrated to

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where he worked in several machine shops before finding work as an apprentice with the

Singer Manufacturing Company Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manu ...

. In 1870 or 1871 he was transferred to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and worked at Remington Machine Company until 1875. He lost all of his possessions in the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 1 ...

of 1871. In 1873, Diehl married Emilie Loos in Chicago."Diehl's Lamp Hit Edison Monopoly," Elizabeth Daily Journal, Friday Evening, October 25, 1929 In 1875, Diehl moved to

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

and took charge of experimental work improving sewing machines at the Singer plant. His daughter, Clara Elvira, was born April 2, 1876.

Inventions

While working at Singer in Elizabeth, Diehl experimented at work and at his home. This resulted in several inventions.

Electric light

Working in the basement of his home on Orchard Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Diehl invented a lamp that was different from

's incandescent electric lamp, which was patented in 1879. Diehl's lamp had no lead-in wires. In 1882 Diehl obtained the first patent on this induction incandescent lamp. The base of the lamp contained a wire coil that coupled with a primary coil in the lamp socket, causing current to flow through the lamp without the need for lead-in wires. Two additional patents were granted in 1883, followed by patents for electrical lighting systems in 1885 and 1886. Following is a partial list of lamp or lighting related patents issued to Philip Diehl: *U.S. No. 255,497, Incandescent Electric Lamp, March 28, 1882 *U.S. No. 272,125, Electric Incandescent Lamp, February 13, 1883 *U.S. No. 276,571, Incandescent Electric Lamp, May 1, 1883 *U.S. No. 314,567, Electric Arc Lamp, March 31, 1885 *U.S. No. 350,482, Electric Lighting System, October 12, 1886 Diehl erected the city's first arc light in front of the Corey Building in Elizabeth, which still stands at 109 Broad Street. Diehl's invention of the induction lamp was used by

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age ...

to force royalty concessions from Thomas Edison. The Westinghouse Company bought Diehl's patent rights for $25,000. Although Diehl's lamp could not be made and sold at a price to compete with the Edison lamp, the Westinghouse Company used the Diehl bulb to force the holders of the Edison patent to charge a more reasonable rate for the use of the Edison patent rights.

Electric engines

Diehl's work at Singer to improve the sewing machine led to developments in electric motors, first to power sewing machines and later for other uses as well. In 1884 at the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

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he demonstrated a

dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundati ...

, modeled after his smaller motor, which generated a current for arc lamps, sewing machine motors and incandescent lamps, all covered by his patents. The judicial committee at the exhibition judged it to be one of the best dynamos exhibited."Philip Diehl", History of Union County, New Jersey, Vol 2, A. Van Doren Honeyman, 1923, pp 117-118.

Ceiling fan

The fan was invented in 1882 by Schuyler Skaats Wheeler. A few years later, Philip Diehl mounted a fan

blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

on a

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

and attached it to the ceiling, inventing the

, which he applied for patent in August which was granted on November 12th, 1889. (; ) Later, he added a

light fixture A light fixture (US English), light fitting (UK English), or luminaire is an electrical device containing an electric lamp that provides illumination. All light fixtures have a fixture body and one or more lamps. The lamps may be in sockets for ...

to the ceiling fan. Later in 1904, Diehl and Co. added a split-ball joint, allowing it to be redirected; three years later, this developed into the first oscillating fan.

Death

Philip Diehl died on April 7, 1913 in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

.Obituary Notes, Philip H. Diehl, The New York Times, Tuesday, April 8, 1913, page 13, column 6.

Honors

In 1889 the American Institute of New York awarded Philip Diehl a bronze medal, which bears the inscription ''The Medal of Merit, awarded to Philip Diehl for Electric Fans and Dynamos, 1889.''

References

External links

Story of Philip Diehl
(contains online references to many of the sources in the References section) {{DEFAULTSORT:Diehl, Philip 1847 births 1913 deaths People from Rhenish Hesse 19th-century American inventors 19th-century German inventors German emigrants to the United States People associated with electricity People from Elizabeth, New Jersey People from Alzey-Worms Inventors from New Jersey